Rocking out with Rock Band: 2/19 & 2/26 DLC Review

Oops, we skipped one. Actually, with the trip out to GDC, we just didn't have time to cover the DLC release last week. With the exceptional goodness that was last weeks releases, we definitely felt it necessary to go back and check them out. This week is no slouch either, with the release of the first (as implied in the name) Nine Inch Nails pack.

While we were at GDC, we did get a chance to chat with some of the guys at Harmoinx who were recruiting. It seems that some of their staff were even a little worried about how well they could pull off selling Rock Band with all its gear even after Guitar Hero did so well. It really is just one of those ideas that could go either way, and luckily for Harmonix the game is just that fun to play.

One of the cool anecdotes we learned is that in developing the game they were originally using the Roland V-Drums as an instrument (which, incidentally, really makes me want to mod my crappy old Roland drums into a Rock Band kit). We were talking about the … less than robustness if you will … of their drum kit, and they said something along the lines of trying to pack all the functionality of the Roland kit (which costs between $700 and $1k USD at the low end) into a controller that cost less than $100 to make being quite difficult.

When we saw it from their perspective, it does seem a bit easier to understand. Our largest complaint is the kick pedal. They seem to think that they did pretty well when their budget was basically a piece of plastic and a spring. Certainly that's true, but hopefully the next version of Rock Band (fingers crossed) will feature a drum with a little better feel to it.

Having already gotten a good idea about how popular the game could be, let's hope they'll be inspired to take the extra time and money to help make the next kit a bit better. With the number of drummers who go out and mod their kit with a real pedal seemingly high, hopefully they'll see that this is something in demand. Maybe they can sell a "higher end" kick pedal for a premium for those who want it or something.

But for now we've got to make due with what we have. And with most of the songs that have become available over the past two weeks we certainly can't say we are unhappy. Here's our review of the songs from 19 February.